What follows is a side-by-side overview of the publishers' offerings. Unless otherwise indicated, clicking on a publisher's name in this section will take you to a more detailed description of what that publisher has to offer.2+2=5 means 'something doesn't add up'.

Virtual Bookworm gets the top ranking here because it provides a full service package for one of the most competitive fees around while offering a good contract, good royalties, good distribution, a good breakeven point, competitive printing costs and full control over several key aspects of your book, such as retail price and bookstore's discount.

This is a fairly well established company, one that has been around for a while, with a pretty solid reputation and it does not discriminate based on place of residence.**

Authors can purchase copies of their books paying only their printing costs.

While it is theoretically possible to publish using CreatSpace almost for free, in order to be able to put this company in a somewhat equal footing with the full-service providers that make up the bulk of those that are featured in the comparison I have added up the costs their least expensive layout and cover design options, plus their expanded distribution add-on, to come up with the fees that are listed above.

CreateSpace gets the second place in this comparison because, due to the fact that, being a subsidiary of amazon.com, it can offer a deal no other publisher can match when it comes to dollars and cents and the fact that authors who can supply their own ready to print layout and cover can theoretically publish for less than $100.00 doesn't hurt matters either.

On the downside their contract does include an extremely dangerous clause, one that may well be a deal-breaker.**

Royalties are 35% of retail price on direct sales, 15% of retail price on extenal sales.

Discount is 35% of retail price, some bulk discounts may apply.

While their set-up fee is more expensive than that of Virtual Bookworm once cover design (a nominal extra) is added to the mix, and they restrict their services to the residents of a handful of countries, Booklocker gets the third place in this comparison because it provides a full service package for a reasonable fee, with good royalties and good distribution. This one too is a well established company that has been around for a while and has a fairly solid reputation. They now offer DIY option and even a payment plan.**

WingSpan Press gets the fourth place in this comparison because --in spite of the fact that their basic package is far less comprehensive and considerably more expensive than that of Virtual Bookworm, they have a few too many things that are deemed as 'extras' for my liking and they don't offer direct sales channel-- they do represent a reasonably competitve option for those authors looking for a full service publisher that doesn't screen manuscripts.**

An expensive set-up fee, a somewhat expensive retail price combined, low discount, a couple of questionable contract clauses and a bundled eBook publishing package that is far from ideal make this a company you may want to avoid.**

Authors can purchase copies of their book paying only their printing costs (a word of caution here: their printing costs are more expensive than those of other companies).

While it is theoretically possible to publish using Lulu almost for free, in order to be able to put this company in a somewhat equal footing with the full-service providers that make up the bulk of those that are featured in the comparison I am using their design fees as a starting point.

An expensive set-up fee, combined with a few too many unknown factors, low royalties, a few dubious contract clauses and a bundled eBook publishing package that is far from favorable make this a company you may want to avoid.**

While this publisher remains active all specifics concerning their services have been taken off-line therefore it is no longer possible for me to offer a detailed review of their services (the link leads directly to their site).

At first glance I would say that the fact that they adscribe a $47.00 value to the free e-version of their 32 page long guide on how to choose a publisher does not bode well in terms of either honesty or affordability.

As usual, by requesting their publishing guide you are probably exposing yourself to a lifetime of spam (in the past couple of weeks I have averaged a message a day, all of them with a neat little sig line about how much they hate spam), so, if you are interested, I would recommend using a disposable address.

They claim that their royalties are '100% of net reciepts' but their printing costs are artificially inflated (in the real world this '100%' adds up to something like like 7% of retail price of a book sold through amazon).

Discount is roughly 62% of retail price.

A ridiculously expensive set-up fee, combined with the way in which they claim that their royalties are '100% of net receipts' while inflating their 'printing costs' smacks of dishonesty. In the real world this '100%' translates into one of the lowest figure of the whole comparison (7% of retail price on external sales, and that is with a less than competitive retail price that is in itself liable to hurt your sales). The fact that their contract is not available online may also serve to mask some additional problems. Over all I would say that this is a publisher to avoid.**

This publisher has been deleted. Click here for a more detailed explanation as to why.

Royalties are 100% of net recipts on external sales and 75% of net receipts on direct sales (beware: that 75% of net receipts is highly misleading as there is a rather steep 'admin fee' tacked on top of that).

Discount is 35% of retail price.

A fee of well over $1,500.00, a dishonest way of figuring out your royalties, a less than ideal author's discount and the fact that things as basic as direct distribution are billed as 'extras' combine to make this publisher a less than appealing option.**

What you see above is a side-by-side overview of the publishers' offerings. Unless otherwise indicated, clicking on a publisher's name in this section will take you to a more detailed description of what that publisher has to offer.2+2=5 means 'something doesn't add up'.

A few words, and links, concerning eBook Publishing

Even though these days most POD publishers offer eBook publishing as an option, you may be better off considering both of these things separately... and as a result you may also want to steer clear of those publishers that bundle their eBook services with their publishing packages.

There are two main reasons for this. The first one is that both kinds of publishing are different and call for different business models. The second one is that self-publishing an electronic version is a lot easier than self-publishing a printed one and even where going at it completely alone is not an option (as is the case with Apple's iBookstore), there are outfits out there that are geared specifically towards this end and offer you what are in essence much better deals.

What follows is a small collection of links you may find useful when it comes to getting your eBook out into the big bad world... and keep in mind that some of these service providers allow you to mix-n-match, so you can combine them to get the best results.

On the legal (down)side of things, beware of the fact that most of the services listed below reserve the right to revise the terms of their user agreements whenever and however they see fit and that does represent problem.

Royalties are 85% of net receipts and they provide access not only to their store but also to several eBookstores that do not deal will independent authors (such as Apple's iBookstore and Sony's ReaderStore).

You get to pick and choose with which retailers you want them to list your book.

They have a DIY conversion engine.

Free content is allowed, though not necessarily available for distribution beyond their site. No DRM.

Royalties are 80% of net receipts minus a $0.25/$0.40 transaction fee (this depends on whether or not DRM is enabled).

Scribd is a massive archive that deals mostly with traditional formats (.PDF, .DOC, etc). Works available for direct sale enjoy a greater measure of copyright protection when it comes to their site. This is important considering that Scribd is also a major source of unauthorized downloads.

Royalties are either 35% or 70% of retail price depending on the book's price and where it is purchased (the 70% option is only available for books sold to readers in a few countries and with a retail price between $2.99 and $9.99). By selecting the 70% option you also relinquish some additional rights in terms of opting out of some 'features'. A delivery fee of $0.15 per megabyte does apply.

You upload your content and their system converts it automatically for you (you do have the ability to preview it).

Creating an eBook (whether in epub, mobi or PDF format) is fairly easy. It can be done in a matter of minutes using a free program such as Calibre and afterwards you are free to sell it directly keeping 100% of the proceeds, though it requires a higher level of technical know-how, not to mention that attracting an audience and competing with large retailers can be a challenge.

A word of caution here: you cannot use your site to distribute an eBook created using any of the services listed above (with the relative exception of Publish Green). This option applies only to an eBook you've created on your own.

Fee depends on whether or not you want external distribution, royalties are 80% of net receipts. If you opt for external distribution they will list your book with most major retailers (apparently you can't pick and choose).

They have a DIY conversion engine. They also offer a $999.00 full-blown e-publishing package.

Their $699.00 package offers limited distribution (amazon and Apple only) and royalties of 90% of net receipts. Their $999.00 package offers global distribution and 100% royalties. They also offer a $399.00 package that features no distribution whatsoever.

This publisher has changed its business model. It no longer charges an upfront fee and therefore it no longer qualifies to be included in the comparison (link goes directly to the publisher's site).

Articles on POD

WARNING: while some of the information contained in these articles may still be relevant today, these are very, very, VERY rough first drafts that were written over ten years ago, and many of them are terminally outdated)

This articles attempts to provide a quick guide into the wonderful world of bouncing sales rankings (WARNING: while most of the information included here is still valid, chances are some of the details are at least somewhat outdated).

A quick look at the pros and cons of returnability within the context of POD (WARNING: while the basic analysis regarding the pros and cons of returnability remains valid, Spirngboard Logisticsis now out of business).